Dating the origin of the Orchidaceae from a fossil orchid with its pollinator

Santiago R. Ramírez (), Barbara Gravendeel, Rodrigo B. Singer, Charles R. Marshall and Naomi E. Pierce
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Santiago R. Ramírez: Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
Barbara Gravendeel: Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, Universiteit Leiden, P.O. Box 9514, Leiden, The Netherlands
Rodrigo B. Singer: Depto Botânica, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, RS 91501-970, Porto Alegre, Brasil
Charles R. Marshall: Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
Naomi E. Pierce: Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

Nature, 2007, vol. 448, issue 7157, 1042-1045

Abstract: Caught in amber Since Darwin's time, biologists have been fascinated by the intimate relationship between orchids and their pollinators. The antiquity of this relationship is demonstrated by the remarkable fossil shown on the cover. Preserved in 15–20-million-year-old amber from the Dominican Republic, a worker stingless bee carries an orchid pollinarium. The pollinarium is the male reproductive structure, transferred as a single unit during pollination, complete with a mass of pollen grains. The find, surprisingly, is the first definitive fossil from the Orchidaceae family. The pollinarium's morphology locates the plant in the subtribe Goodyerinae. By combining this information with dates from related fossil plants, a new calibration of the molecular phylogeny of the Orchidaceae has been obtained. The analysis rejects the common assumption of a recent (Tertiary) origin for orchids, and suggests, instead, that they originated during the Late Cretaceous, 80 million years ago.

Date: 2007
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06039

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